Page 1109 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 30 March 2011
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street, and it was only through the intervention and the hard work of the Canberra Liberals that they received a reprieve and that the government started to take their concerns seriously.
On the subject of Gumnut, a really good justification has still never been given to this place or to the Gumnut childcare centre for why they have to move out of their current premises in the first place. It really boils down to, it seems, that Mr Barr would like part of his preschool back. There is no indication that there is a real demand for those places for preschool. But we know that there is a demand for those places for childcare.
As we approach the 10th anniversary of this tired old Stanhope government, we need to look back on their record and the context in which they have administered capital works programs. So, before I turn to my concerns about the upgrade of Flynn primary school, let me draw to your attention a few of the examples of failed policies from this tired old government.
At the outset, major projects in the planning stage can have great potential. However, implementation is one of the most important aspects of the policy process—and this is something this government struggles with. Take the hideous debacle that is the GDE. This was a major infrastructure program. It was promised when Mr Smyth was the Minister for Urban Services to build a four-lane road, two lanes in each direction, for around $60 million. I cannot quite remember the figure and I do not want to—
Mr Smyth: Fifty-five.
MRS DUNNE: Mr Smyth reminds me it was $55 million.
Of course we saw what happened with that. There were attempts by various federal members to interfere in the operation of the ACT government and change the route. There was a commitment by Mr Corbell to not only change the route but deliver it on time and on budget. We did not start to build the road until the road was supposed to have been completed. It was completed in 2004, but it was one lane in every direction, by which time the cost of the GDE had rocketed to something in the vicinity of $120 million.
We have to remember that the then head of urban services had told us that he had done the work, they had done a traffic survey and it would be a great road 22 hours a day. Almost immediately, the Stanhope government went through a phase of saying, “No, no, it’s going to be a good road,” and then, with a hint of being gazumped on policy, they back flipped on this issue. And today still, in 2011, seven years after this road was supposed to be completed, the people of Gungahlin and Belconnen are confronted with a traffic snarl every day. And the cost is three times more, and counting, than was originally proposed. The GDE is a car park for several hours in the morning and afternoon, depending on which direction you are going.
This is the sort of background that we have when we are talking about building capital works. We have had a range of cost blow-outs in almost every project that you could imagine. The dam, the Murrumbidgee pipeline, Bimberi youth detention centre, the
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